News

2017 Capital Football Referee Awards

September 29, 2017

Each year Capital Football honours Senior and Junior match officials with prestigious awards at the annual Capital Football Referee Presentation Night.

In a room full of black, blue and yellow, match officials and directors of Capital Football (CF) gathered to celebrate the achievements of our junior and senior referees at the Hellenic Club in the City on Friday 22nd September.

The first awards of the night were the ‘Upgrading Awards’, which recognise all of our match officials who have set out to improve their knowledge as a referee or become a coach or instructor. Delfina Dimoski (W-League Assistant Referee), Greg Taylor (A-League Assistant Referee), Gavin Martin (FFA Referee Coach) and Clive Mackillop (FFA Referee Coach) presented our upgrading certificates which included referee and assessor qualifications.

Ian Hotchkiss presented the first of the Junior Referee Awards; the Hotchkiss and Carmichael awards. Majura FC’s Jamie Lee-Guo and Woden Valley’s Sam Hill were awarded the Ian Hotchkiss and Gordon Carmichael awards respectively which recognise their progress as Junior Referees from the Northside and Southside of Canberra.

Bradley McGrath and Djai Lyras were presented with the Junior Molnar Award and Senior Molnar Award by Allyson Flynn for their performance at the 2017 NSR Kanga Cup.

Damon van Putten was awarded CFR Cadet of the Year whilst Hamish Driver-Rae received the award for CFR Academy Referee of the Year. Hamish was one of the six referees who graduated from the CFR Academy in 2017.

Allyson Flynn received a special gift from Capital Football which was presented by CF Board Chairman Mark O’Neill to acknowledge her remarkable career, having made the decision to retire from active officiating at the end of the 2016/17 A-League season.

Owen Goldrick provided an overview of Allyson’s amazing career and how she has achieved so much including representing Australia at an Olympic Games and numerous Women’s World Cups and what impact it has had on the refereeing community both locally and internationally.

O’Neill also acknowledged her significant contribution to the football community, both domestic and international, with her strong leadership and work ethic having an impact not only on referees but on all members of the football community.

“How can I contribute to make this team better?’ Flynn asked the refereeing community. Refereeing is a team environment and Flynn reflected on having the privilege to work with the best female and male referees internationally and helping to develop the next generation of officials at the grassroots community level.

Thomas Stewart won the South Canberra Futsal Referee of the Year for the second year in a row, while Damon van Putten was North Canberra Futsal’s Referee of the Year.

Julian Nichols was named Futsal Academy Referee of the Year and Hamish Driver-Rae received the Encouragement Award for most improved Futsal referee.

The Men’s and Women’s Futsal Premier League Grand Final referees were acknowledged before James Nikolaidis’ received the Futsal Referees’ Referee of the Year Award, for his services to Futsal in developing and supporting young referees.

Capital Football Director Garth Morrison presented the first of the Senior Awards which was the David Oner Management Award. Pat Caggiano received the David Oner Management Award for his significant contribution in training and developing our Game Leaders in preparation for the Kanga Cup as well as his success as Coach of the NewCanWarra Referee Football team.

Carlina Mullett was presented with the Encouragement Award (most improved referee) and Oscar Zamora was the winner of the Endurance award, which recognises the senior referee who has committed the most time to refereeing during the football season.

Andrew Higginson was voted by his senior colleagues as the Referees’ Referee of the Year to claim the prestigious ‘Nick Szego Award’ which was accepted by 2017 ACT Senior Woman of the Year Andrea Hotchkiss.

It was evident that Andrew was the Referees’ Referee of the Year with his colleagues noting that Andrew has ‘done more than any other referee to further the development, training and support of referees at all levels’.

The Capital Football Referee Presentation Night would not have been possible without the organisation of Gareth Biggs and Delfina Dimoski as well as Trivia masters Owen Goldrick and Matthew Schofield.

The full list of 2017 CFR award winners and our Junior Club Referee award winners can be viewed here.